Let's Discuss ... The Best Movies of the Year

What's that sound? Could it be the swan song of the franchise era? Critics Bilge Ebiri and Alison Willmore cast their bets-and name non-superhero favorites.

- Photo-ilustration by Franziska Barczyk

With the end of the year upon us, it makes sense to start thinking about movie endings. Not just the actual endings to movies-though this year certainly gave us a few notable climactic final scenes, from John Wick: Chapter 4 to Oppenheimer to Barbie to Beau Is Afraid-but also a general sense that some of the biggest trends we've seen in recent years may be coming to an end. Is that a good thing? Or is this a Careful What We Wish For situation? As our movie critics sat down to ponder their favorite films of the year, they couldn't escape one question: If 2023 marks the end of so many things, what's next?

BILGE EBIRI: This year saw several major superhero movies go bust. It saw Disney deliver one bona fide animated flop (Wish) and one film that exists in the liminal space between flop and hit (Elemental). We also saw Netflix starting to pull back on the mountains of money it throws toward film productions. Many of us have been anticipating (maybe even hoping for) the end of the franchise era. But now that it might be happening, what lies on the other side?